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In a previous blog I wrote about the phoney support calls many of us have received and I’d now like to warn you about some other scams.
The first one involves a fake system message that pops up on your screen stating your computer is experiencing difficulties. One of my customers allowed me to take a photo of her screen showing the bogus alert in order to help more people become aware of the scam.

The message looks genuine doesn’t it? Couple that with a slow running computer, something we’ve all experienced and it’s very believable. In addition the number to call is free so what have you got to lose? Well actually quite a lot.

The ‘support technician’ you get through to answers your call promptly (that would immediately raise my suspicions) is very sympathetic and will want to remotely access your computer to help diagnose your computer problems. The rest of the story resembles the telephone scam with the ‘technician’ sifting through your machine then asking for some form of payment. This can vary and I’ve heard of fees ranging from £50 – £300 depending on how much ‘help’ they think you need! If you don’t pay and cut the connection they will still have had access to your system, possibly loaded some troublesome software and more than likely adjusted some settings so that it starts to behave erratically. They’re then likely to call you back to tell you it can all be fixed just as long as you part with some cash.

Best advice if this message pops is to close any internet browsers that are open, shut down the machine (use Ctrl+alt+del if necessary) and when you restart it run a virus scanner that will detect low level malware.  Do not ring the number showing in the message and give me a call if you need reassurance and more help.

The other scam involves a free telephone number which also seems to be from a credible source.  Let’s say you’re having some issues with your anti-virus program McAfee and you want to talk to their support department for assistance.  You search for their telephone number online using Google and inevitably find a selection of websites to choose from.  Be very careful which one you pick.  Within the list will be bogus companies claiming to provide McAfee technical support with a free telephone number and if you call they are extremely helpful, will want to remotely connect to your computer and then try to charge an extortionate fee for any mock assistance they’ve supplied.

Of course, it goes without saying that the actual McAfee site and other real IT support businesses will also show up on the search list and provide a genuine service with reasonable fees.

To find contact information for any application you’ve purchased, particularly those that provide on-going assistance, you should be able to open the program itself and use the help or support link to take you directly to their official website.

Don’t be put off looking for help online though, a little research can easily establish whether a business is legitimate and if you need help or advice with any computer issue you can contact me on 01452 506529 or send me a message via the form on my contact page.

Published August 2015/updated Oct 2018

To ensure my newsletters don’t end up in your spam or junk folder you could add my email address to your safe senders list. The simplest way to do this is to add me to your contacts list.

I’ve outlined below the steps for 3 of the most commonly used email applications.

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GMail is Google’s free web-based email service.

If you receive an email from someone you’d like to add to your contacts list, hover over their name in the Inbox list and a small window should appear, then choose the option to ‘Add to Contacts’. The details will automatically be added.

Alternatively, to add a contact manually:

Open Google Apps list (top right of the page) by clicking on this icon: 

then open Contacts

In the bottom right corner click the ‘New Contact’ button 

You can now enter your new contact’s details in the appropriate fields. Don’t forget to click Save!

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Outlook, Live Mail and Hotmail

Outlook Web Access is Microsoft’s free web-based email client and like Gmail can link in to several other services.  It started life as Hotmail, and is also known as Live.com.  The latest name ‘Outlook’ is often confused (understandably) with the paid for email program also called Outlook that can be purchased independently or as part of the Microsoft Office suite.

Here’s how to add a new Contact:

From within your Outlook/Live Mail or Hotmail account go to Applications at the top left of the page:  

When the Applications window opens, choose the People icon  and then click the + New contact option at the top.  You can then add the new contact details.

When you’ve finished click ‘Create’.

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Outlook 
For the paid for version of Outlook available from Microsoft there are once again several ways to add a contact:

When the message from your new contact is open in its own window, right click on their name in the header where it says From and select ‘Add to Outlook Contacts’.

Alternatively in the Navigation Pane (under your list of mail folders on the left-hand side at the bottom) select ‘Contacts’.

* Either click ‘New Contact’ in the top menu bar, which will open a new window where you can add the new details or in the Contacts list at the top select the box that says ‘Click here to add a new contact’.

These instructions are based on Outlook 2010 – for newer versions you can still add a new contact by right clicking on the From line in the message and selecting Add to Contacts.

To add it manually you would need to select the People icon  then follow the same method as above *.

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I’ve tested the above instructions myself and currently they are correct (as of Oct. 18) but if you find something that doesn’t quite work or a step has changed let me know and I’ll update the information.  If you’d like assistance adding contacts to any other email program drop me a line via my Contact page and I’ll do my best to help.

Published 2015 and updated Oct 2018

Reports are that the latest operating system from Microsoft is due to be released sometime during 2015 and in an attempt to give the appearance of a fresh start they’re calling it Windows 10, skipping Windows 9.

Maybe to win back the confidence of users who were frustrated with 8, Windows 10 will be available as a free upgrade from Windows 7 or 8.1 during the first year after launch, if not purchased with a new machine. Also, it will continue to be updated for the lifetime of the computer or device it’s installed on, doing away with the need to update the system every few years so that any new features will be added via automatic updates.

I’ve been test driving the free technical version for a few weeks now and think it is a reasonable improvement on Windows 8 and 8.1.  so here’s a brief roundup of a few of the features you can expect.

The Start Menu is back

I always thought that having a Start Screen (showing the live tiles and apps) and a separate desktop gave the appearance of two different systems, which was confusing for many people, so was pleased to see that these two areas have now been combined resulting in the return of the Start Menu. It’s been updated and could be a little confusing at first, but is completely customisable.
Here’s what they’ve done:-

This is the Start Menu on Windows 7:

Using a right click over the Windows icon on the bottom left of a Windows 8.1 screen opens the context menu you can see here, a poor Start Menu indeed!:

This is the new style Start Menu on Windows 10:

The new menu can show both shortcuts and the Windows 8 style tiles linking you to the programs and apps you use the most, with the option to organise and resize both the tiles and the menu itself. This means that if you did actually prefer the full size Windows 8 Start Screen it can be enabled by simply maximising the menu so that it fills the screen. If you want it to look more like Windows 7 all the tiles can be unpinned from the Start Menu leaving just the shortcuts.

The power button that seemed to be lost to users less familiar with Windows 8 is now easier to find on the top right of the start menu, see above.

Apps run from the desktop

If you’re familiar with Windows 8 or 8.1, the tiles and Windows Store Apps that were confined to the Start Screen will now run from the desktop and can be minimised, maximised, moved around and closed just like the traditional window:

The Charms Bar has gone

I for one could never be bothered to use the charms bar in Windows 8 and many people I spoke to only ever accidentally found it, so I wasn’t too surprised to see that it had been left off the new system. Having said that Microsoft may at the last minute add it back in again.

Multi-platform availability

The Windows 10 operating system can be installed across a whole range of devices from desktop and laptop computers to tablets and phones and a wide variety of business equipment, so that inter-connection via universally shared apps, such as the Microsoft Office suite, will be easier.

A new search program

Cortana, the so-called ‘digital assistant’ and currently only available on Windows phones, is likely to be included in Windows 10 as an alternative to the search box we’re familiar with. It can be used with typed or voice commands (if your device has a microphone) and has the ability to be interactive with the details you supply, so for instance it could monitor and warn you of potential delays if you have searched for a particular traffic route. With this type of program, the more interaction there is, the better the assistant will be at providing you with information that is specific to you.

It will be interesting to see how this function fares on desktop computers and just how often it’s used in place of the current search facility.

Task View Button

There’s a very useful addition to the Task Bar called the Task View Button (already familiar to those using MAC or Linux systems) that allows you to view all applications and programs currently running enabling you to easily switch between them and close down those that you’d forgotten were open.

Virtual Desktops

Another interesting addition is a new tool called Virtual Desktop which enables you to create and access a different desktop for all your activities. So you could have a work desktop, a social media desktop and a web research desktop each containing links and shortcuts to specific programs andor sites.

A new web browser

A new web browser is being included with Windows 10 initially called Project Spartan but recently renamed Edge. Microsoft promises that used in combination with the Cortana search assistant it will provide more efficient web browsing. There will be the ability to capture and clip information from web pages for sharing via email or social networks and if you have a touch screen you’ll be able to write or type directly onto the page. They’ve also included a Reading List tool so that interesting articles or pages can be saved for viewing later.  Early reports have suggested that this browser will only be available with the new operating system so there doesn’t seem any chance you can download and try it with your existing version of Windows.

Final release date not known

Until the new operating system is released the final details won’t be known but the latest release from Microsoft is promising to be an interesting update and has taken on board much of the feedback from disgruntled users in the past.

Update:  Windows 10 was released on July 29th, see my latest blog on Upgrading to windows 10.

Taking a look inside the box.

This is a non-technical guide helping to explain some of the terms you may encounter whilst using your computer.

What’s RAM, where’s my CPU and what’s a Port?

If you’ve ever wondered what you’d find if you cranked open the side of your desktop computer and brushed away the cobwebs or managed to fiddle around for long enough to take the bottom off your laptop, here’s a whistle-stop tour of the main parts and a brief explanation of what they do.

RAM – random access memory

Ask anyone familiar with computers to name a component and the first thing they will probably think of is RAM or memory. I guess the reason for this is because it’s associated with how fast a computer can run and the cheapest and easiest way to give a pc a boost is to install more memory. In the past you were lucky to have 256MB but these days, due to falling manufacturing costs, even a basic system will usually have a minimum of 4GB.

(See below for a guide to GB Gigabytes and MB megabytes)

4GB is ample when running a basic system used for general tasks and increasing this to 6 or 8GB will show little increase in the speed that it runs.  However, if you want to play the latest version of COD (if you’re a gamer you’ll know what this is) or use it to run more complicated programs such as those that edit videos for example, then you will need much more than 4GB.

So why is 4GB good enough for some systems but not enough in others? The only way to explain this is to get a little technical;

All but a tiny amount of the data or information needed to run your computer is permanently stored on the hard drive. The standard hard-drive runs relatively slowly compared to RAM, so to speed things up data is moved into and out of the memory from the hard drive thus allowing it to be accessed far quicker when it is needed. Each time you open a program the same thing happens; the data is loaded into memory ready to be accessed by the whichever part of your computer requires it to run.

When the system is shut down or power is lost all information is wiped from the memory which is why, if you’re working on a document that hasn’t been saved and your computer is switched off it’s gone for good.

In simplified terms then RAM is a very speedy go between, shuttling information to and from the CPU and other parts of your pc and the hard drive.

The CPU or central processing unit

Commonly referred to as the brains of a computer, the CPU is responsible for organising and managing all the instructions and processes needed to run the system. From the moment you hit the power button to the time when you shut it down, the processor is busy taking commands and running the show.  Disappointingly it is quite a non-descript looking slice of metal just a bit bigger than a postage stamp, shown here with a 1p coin for scale, but don’t let that fool you, today’s processor chips are fantastically powerful. You won’t be able to see the processor because it’s connected to the motherboard and hidden beneath a large fan needed to keep it cool.

The hard drive

As mentioned above the hard drive is where all the data, information, operating system, all your files and folders, documents and photos are permanently stored. The only consideration you may have is how much storage space you need but modern computers generally have a minimum of 500GB and the cost doesn’t increase that much if you want more.

About the size and thickness of a small paperback book, hard disk drives have for a long time consisted of mechanical disks (called platters) which determine how fast the information can be accessed but there is now an alternative called a Solid State Drive (SSD) which vastly increases the access speed. These types of hard drive are a bit more expensive though, meaning if you want the speed you pay the price.

The graphics card

Vewing images from your computer on your monitor is mostly controlled and managed by the graphics card. All computers have one and unless you want to run the latest games or use sophisticated image editing suites the standard card that comes with most new computers is good enough.

Ports

If you take a look at the back of your desktop computer or the sides of your laptop you’ll see a variety of holes which are used to connect very specific types of cables. These holes are known as ports. As an example when you want to connect a mouse or keyboard using a USB cable you would connect it to the USB port.

(Just a quick mention – there are also virtual ports which have no physical connection and generally referred to when making connections via a network).

The motherboard

I briefly mentioned the motherboard earlier when explaining the CPU and whilst it is a part of the computer that remains unknown to many people it is in fact essential. Every part of a computer system needs to be connected to the motherboard so that it can amongst other things, distribute the power supply and enable communication between the various parts

CD/DVD drive or Optical drive

CD/DVD drives have been around for a long time and most people know what they are.  The reason it’s sometimes called an optical drive is because light is used to read the data stored on the disks.

Watch out when buying a new laptop as they sometimes take out the CD/DVD drive to accommodate a slimmer, lighter design.

There are of course many other parts to a computer system but I hope this guide has given you some small insight into what’s inside the box.

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A guide to computer units    

1024B              = 1KB

1024KB            = 1MB

1024MB          = 1GB

1024GB           = 1TB

Depending on how long it is, a full length feature film requires between 3.5GB and 7GB of data space if saved to the hard drive.

To go to Part 1 in this series click here; Computers Simplified – the Personal Computer

My article – Buying a new computer – has advice you may find useful if you’re thinking of purchasing a new machine.